As generally known in the art, a plasma display panel (PDP) is a display device having a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate between which a discharge space is formed, so that plasma discharge may generate in the discharge space, thereby causing phosphors in the discharge space to be excited and emit light, so as to display a screen. In comparison with liquid crystal panel, the PDP can display an image at a higher speed and can easily realize a larger screen. Therefore, PDPs are employed in a field of a television with a higher quality and a larger screen.
Hereinafter, an AC PDP, which is currently the mainstream of PDPs, will be described.
A PDP includes a front plate and a rear plate assembled in parallel with each other. The front plate includes a front glass substrate, a plurality of discharge sustaining electrodes formed on a lower surface of the front glass substrate, bus electrodes formed on lower surfaces of the discharge sustaining electrodes, a dielectric layer covering the discharge sustaining electrodes and the bus electrodes, and a protection layer formed on a lower surface of the dielectric layer. Further, the rear plate includes a rear glass substrate, address electrodes formed on an upper surface of the rear glass substrate, a dielectric layer formed on upper surfaces of the address electrodes, barrier walls formed on an upper surface of the dielectric layer to form discharge cells, and phosphorous layers formed on surfaces of the barrier walls. Herein, two discharge sustaining electrodes are disposed in each discharge cell.
Therefore, the address electrodes and discharge sustaining electrodes cause discharge in the discharge cells, and ultraviolet rays generated by the discharge excites the phosphorous layer, which then emits visible rays, thereby forming a desired image on a screen.
In general, in forming barrier walls of a rear plate of a PDP, the barrier walls are preliminary formed and are then baked, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. P9-283018 and P9-102275.
When a PDP has been manufactured by attaching a conventional rear plate as described above to a front plate, the PDP has deteriorated electrical and optical properties due to characteristics of the manufacturing method thereof.